Buddhist Uprising

The Buddhist Uprising occurred from 26 March to 8 June 1966 when Buddhist activists and a sympathetic faction of the ARVN rebelled against Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky's unpopular government. Ultimately, Ky was able to crush the uprising.

On 15 May 1966, the government of South Vietnam again seemed on the brink of collapse due to more unrest. The ascendancy of Prime Minister Ky had dealt a severe blow to activist Buddhists, who had been demanding a representative government and a negotiated end to the Vietnam War since 1963. When Ky suddenly fired rival general Nguyen Chanh Thi, a popular Buddhist commander, demonstrators poured into the streets of Hue and Da Nang. They shut down the port through which US supplies had been flowing, and some ARVN soldiers loyal to the dismissed general abandoned the struggle against the communists and headed for the city. Angry crowds burned American jeeps, and they held signs demanding peace and an American withdrawal. Ky ordered ARVN soldiers to surround and subdue Da Nang, where they exchanged fire with their former comrades. As Ky's forces stormed Buddhist pagodas in Da Nang, his warplanes strafed dissident troops occupying the central market. The rebellion was crushed, and President Lyndon B. Johnson was relieved; his advisors had even suggested an abandonment of Vietnam and a stand against communism in Thailand instead. Thi was forced to go into exile in the USA, and Ky established his power in the country.